Fully justified fear grips America as anxiety over anthrax compounds the terrible trauma of September 11. Wisely, Americans and friends in other parts of the world are returning to normalcy. Failing to do so would give the enemy an undeserved victory.
Fear is a lethal weapon. It stifles thought, especially at a time when clear thinking is imperative. Fright intimidates and confuses as well and a need to fix blame usually emerges. A Newsweek cover story asked, "Why do they hate us?" as if hate needs a reason. Nevertheless, the question resonates loudly each day.
On radio talk shows, television interviews and in countless op-ed columns, the "why" question is repeated and guess what? Israel is blamed, which imposes additional fear upon Jews. Everyone knows that bin Laden has little interest in Palestine but is demagogically exploiting the Arab-Israeli conflict to justify and widen his support. Facts, however, will not deter those wanting to blame others and Jews are convenient targets.
Anti-Semitism is the cowardly but convenient path for neurotics who shout "why" when they should be searching for "what" - what to do and how to do it. "Why" is an empty question and bodes great danger. Sane people faced with fire will seek ways to put out the fire and later investigate its cause. At this time, with fires burning in Afghanistan and anthrax exposure in the United States, polls show that most Americans are attributing the biological invasion to the terror of September 11, but the facts at this time are unknown. We know a war must be fought, and the United States must find ways to fight terror and protect its people.
Whether we like it or not, the "why" question will continuously be raised. Its answer, once again, reveals a sad and tragic form of human behavior, the need to hate any person or society that is different. Until we accept hate as a sickness, a serious illness in need of early treatment, hatred will cause violence, war and terrorism. All other answers are false and counter-productive. The purported notion that knowing cause will offer remedy is applicable to many problems, but is never a justified response to hatred.
As Jews, we have a responsibility to ourselves as well as others. Israel has been feeling the blow of terrorism since the day the Jewish state was born. In this last year alone, Israelis witnessed at least twenty suicide bombings. Israelis learned the intensity of the hate disease, so consuming that it will cause complete mental reversal. Instinctively, humans are survivalists, but hate can create a lust even for death and a denial of man's normal will to live.
The dust will settle. The war will end; its effects, felt everywhere. With G-d's help, tyranny will once again suffer defeat, with victory for the United States and all freedom-loving people. . . until the next time. Fascism was defeated and communism crushed, but now a new hate, garbed in religion, has emerged. Hate will meet defeat, but hatred will re-emerge in another garb, again and again, unless decent people stop justifying and analyzing causes. We need to learn from these experiences.
Had the allies acted quickly against Hitler when he spewed unmitigated hatred against Jews, millions of lives would have been spared. Had the free world noted the Soviet's imperialistic aspirations, many millions of lives would have been saved from despair and death. Had the western world acted decisively when terror struck Israel, the current tragic war on terrorism would definitely have been avoided. Yet think tanks and governments pontificated the age-old neurotic question "Why?" while the terrorists became bolder and more arrogant. Hate must be stopped before its diseased venom spreads infectious horrors even worse than anthrax.
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Rabbi Grossman is former President of the Rabbinical Council of America and current Chairman of the Board of Religious Zionists of America.
Fear is a lethal weapon. It stifles thought, especially at a time when clear thinking is imperative. Fright intimidates and confuses as well and a need to fix blame usually emerges. A Newsweek cover story asked, "Why do they hate us?" as if hate needs a reason. Nevertheless, the question resonates loudly each day.
On radio talk shows, television interviews and in countless op-ed columns, the "why" question is repeated and guess what? Israel is blamed, which imposes additional fear upon Jews. Everyone knows that bin Laden has little interest in Palestine but is demagogically exploiting the Arab-Israeli conflict to justify and widen his support. Facts, however, will not deter those wanting to blame others and Jews are convenient targets.
Anti-Semitism is the cowardly but convenient path for neurotics who shout "why" when they should be searching for "what" - what to do and how to do it. "Why" is an empty question and bodes great danger. Sane people faced with fire will seek ways to put out the fire and later investigate its cause. At this time, with fires burning in Afghanistan and anthrax exposure in the United States, polls show that most Americans are attributing the biological invasion to the terror of September 11, but the facts at this time are unknown. We know a war must be fought, and the United States must find ways to fight terror and protect its people.
Whether we like it or not, the "why" question will continuously be raised. Its answer, once again, reveals a sad and tragic form of human behavior, the need to hate any person or society that is different. Until we accept hate as a sickness, a serious illness in need of early treatment, hatred will cause violence, war and terrorism. All other answers are false and counter-productive. The purported notion that knowing cause will offer remedy is applicable to many problems, but is never a justified response to hatred.
As Jews, we have a responsibility to ourselves as well as others. Israel has been feeling the blow of terrorism since the day the Jewish state was born. In this last year alone, Israelis witnessed at least twenty suicide bombings. Israelis learned the intensity of the hate disease, so consuming that it will cause complete mental reversal. Instinctively, humans are survivalists, but hate can create a lust even for death and a denial of man's normal will to live.
The dust will settle. The war will end; its effects, felt everywhere. With G-d's help, tyranny will once again suffer defeat, with victory for the United States and all freedom-loving people. . . until the next time. Fascism was defeated and communism crushed, but now a new hate, garbed in religion, has emerged. Hate will meet defeat, but hatred will re-emerge in another garb, again and again, unless decent people stop justifying and analyzing causes. We need to learn from these experiences.
Had the allies acted quickly against Hitler when he spewed unmitigated hatred against Jews, millions of lives would have been spared. Had the free world noted the Soviet's imperialistic aspirations, many millions of lives would have been saved from despair and death. Had the western world acted decisively when terror struck Israel, the current tragic war on terrorism would definitely have been avoided. Yet think tanks and governments pontificated the age-old neurotic question "Why?" while the terrorists became bolder and more arrogant. Hate must be stopped before its diseased venom spreads infectious horrors even worse than anthrax.
-------------------
Rabbi Grossman is former President of the Rabbinical Council of America and current Chairman of the Board of Religious Zionists of America.